


In Which Sokka Learns, Simps, and Scores

by alligator_writes



Series: Zukka Modern Makeup AU [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Bending (Avatar TV), Bisexual Disaster Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, MUA!Zuko, POV Sokka (Avatar), POV Third Person Limited, Sokka (Avatar)-centric, Sokka unlearns toxic masculinity, i just realized the title is lowkey suggestive there’s nothing like that here though, it's pre slash don't nerf me, more tags when I feel like it, no beta we die like jet, pure shit only I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27527155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alligator_writes/pseuds/alligator_writes
Summary: Sokka unlearns toxic masculinity, simps over a makeup artist, and gets something good out of it all.(Thanks Katara and Suki, though he'll never actually admit he's grateful.)Only rated teen for cursing. Completely gen otherwise.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Suki (Avatar), Sokka & Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), past Sokka/Yue (Avatar) - Relationship
Series: Zukka Modern Makeup AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049291
Comments: 20
Kudos: 217





	In Which Sokka Learns, Simps, and Scores

**Author's Note:**

> Ok this started as crack (in the now disbanded Zukka Nation server) but then I wrote it and actually liked it. I hope y'all do too!
> 
> I will write 2 more installments of this AU but with established relationship. If y'all want to use this AU and show them getting together, by all means do so! Please credit me though :)
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Edit 1/9/21: I got a tumblr! http://alligator-writes.tumblr.com/

When Sokka wakes up, he hears giggling from downstairs.

Suki is over. That means it’s Saturday.

He gets out of bed with a dramatic eyeroll. (What? If you had to deal with them, you’d roll your eyes too.)

He gets dressed slowly, trying to delay going downstairs as much as possible. Eventually, he has no choice. Breakfast matters more than his annoying little sister and her kinda cool friend.

He creeps down the stairs, probably looking like a stalker, and manages to slink into the kitchen without getting their attention in the next room over.

“Sokka, you don’t have to avoid us,” Suki calls out.

She always catches him. Maybe she has x-ray vision.

He opens the door of the fridge, not caring if he makes noise anymore. “Yes, I do.”

“Suki, you have to admit, the quiet is nice,” Katara says.

“I haven’t even said anything! It’s too early for me to be annoying,” Sokka grumbles, scanning the shelves for something to eat.

“No, you’ve already started,” Suki jokes.

Sokka shoots a glare at her through the wall. He hopes she feels it. He lets the door close with a thud.

Katara sighs, “Pancakes are on the stove.”

“You’re the best.”

“Oh, first it’s ‘avoid Katara like the plague’, now it’s ‘thanks for making me breakfast’?”

Sokka shoves a pancake into his mouth. “Yes,” he says with his mouth full.

“You’re disgusting,” Katara says right as Suki laughs again.

He takes the plate of pancakes with him as he crosses to the stairs again. If he remembers right, he still has Cheez-its and other snacks hidden around his room (in case of late night snack emergencies). He might not have to come down until lunch, and he can have his peace and quiet away from them.

As he’s about to step up, Suki asks, “Do you want to watch with us?”

Sokka laughs at her. “No, I don’t. I’m not interested in your girl stuff.”

If he says no, he holes up in his room until they leave, like he always does. If he says yes, he gets wrapped up in whatever brings Suki to their house for half the day every Saturday. He’s never asked what it was. He doesn’t really care. It’s girl stuff, and that doesn’t matter to him.

“Wait, Sokka, can you do me a favor?” Katara asks. She has _that tone_ in her voice that never means anything good. Even though he’s facing away from her, he can practically feel her trying (and probably succeeding) to do puppy eyes.

“No.”

“For real, we need your help,” Suki says. 

Yeah, he trusts Suki enough to entertain this. He walks back into the living room and sees them huddled around Katara’s shitty school laptop. “What is it?”

“Can you drive us into the city today?”

“Why?”

“There’s a convention we want to go to,” Katara says, finally looking up from whatever she’s been watching.

“When do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re ready.”

“You have tickets?”

“I bought them,” Suki says. “And one for you, too, if you want to stay.”

He thinks for a minute. “Meh, why not? I don’t have practice today. Besides, I feel bad if you already spent the money.”

Suki looks at Katara. “I told you he’d say yes.”

“He only did because you asked, not me,” Katara shoots back.

“Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have done this for you guys if Katara asked. Suki, you’re much cooler than she is.”

With that, Sokka goes back upstairs, breakfast in hand, his sister’s indignant shouting music to his ears.

\--------

“Suki, I’m never trusting you again.”

She only laughs as they walk through the doors of the center with Katara by her side.

The convention center is packed with people. Vendors line the walkways, hawking their merchandise. Banners strung up by nearly invisible cords proclaim the most important guests and panels. Over the loudspeakers, a voice chimes in periodically, to remind people of the main attractions.

It’s a makeup convention. A con for makeup artists on YouTube, and their fans, according to Katara. He’d kill them if he wasn’t ready to die of embarrassment already.

“Katara, I’m your brother. You couldn’t even look out for me?”

She turns around. “I am looking out for you. You need to get your head out of your ass and realize that this isn’t just ‘girl’s stuff.’”

She does over exaggerated air quotes around the last part, and he feels a little bad. Not that he’d give her the satisfaction. Sokka knows he’s in the right.

“How long are we staying for?” he dares to ask.

Suki and Katara look at each other for a solid minute. It’s unnerving the way girls can have entire conversations with just eye contact.

“Until we feel like leaving,” Suki suggests with a devilish smile.

Katara nods in agreement.

Sokka sighs. “You owe me, big time.”

They laugh in unison, and that’s a little creepy too.

\-----

The only part he enjoys is memorizing panel times and figuring out the most efficient routes on the maps. Of course, the girls didn’t plan ahead. Amateurs.

He hates being their pack mule, though. He gets stares and looks from different people (mostly women, the only guys he sees are in the same situation as him) as he trudges unhappily behind Katara and Suki, who never carry anything they buy or receive samples from.

He wonders how Katara is able to buy so many things, then remembers that he hasn’t seen her spend money in probably a year or more. She’s been planning for this, and she knew he’d say yes.

Shit, he's predictable.

If someone from school - or worse, from the team - saw him, he’d crawl into a hole and die. Miraculously, they either don’t care to come here or the con is so big they haven’t run into each other.

Sokka runs worst case scenarios in his mind as Katara makes her final purchase for the day. Who even needs that many eyeshadow palettes?

“You’re worried,” she says, reading him like she always does.

“Yeah, I am,” he snaps. “What if one of the guys sees me here?”

Suki continues walking and doesn’t even look at him. “Why would they be here?”

And that puts a successful end to his train of thought. Maybe he needs to talk to Suki more often.

He checks the time. “We gotta start heading to the last panel.”

“Which one is it?” Suki asks.

“Um,” he checks the schedule he made in his notes app, “Rising Stars?”

Katara lets out an excited squeal that makes him jump.

“Sweet, that’s the one we’ve been waiting for!” Suki exclaims.

He should know better than to ask, but he does anyway. “Why?”

“Because it has our favorite artist on it.” Katara looks at him like he’s stupid, which he guesses he is. Comparatively. With gi- this stuff.

Suki laughs at him. “It’s why I come over to your house every week. New videos come out every Saturday, and we try the looks after.”

So that’s why Suki stays so long.

They go into the room and grab seats in one of the middle rows and wait for the panel to start.

“Sokka, you got us here too early,” Katara complains.

“Better early than late. Spirits forbid you miss this one.”

“Well, yeah,” the girls say in unison. Do they share a brain?

On the stage, people start filling the seats. Sokka takes out his phone and turns the volume on Crossy Road all the way down. It’s been his way to pass the time at panels all day.

To his left, Katara lets out an excited gasp. “There!”

Out of sheer curiosity, Sokka looks up to see where she’s pointing.

And on the stage is a boy. In makeup. Sokka doesn’t really know what to think.

But the first thought to come to mind is _holy fuck he’s gorgeous_.

Well, that’s new. For boys, at least.

Katara whispers back to him in Inuktitut, “You’re lucky almost no one can understand you.”

At least he didn’t say it in English.

But he can’t stop staring at this boy.

He has to be around the same age as Sokka. Shaggy black hair hangs down into his face a little bit. He’s very pale, and probably East Asian, from what Sokka is seeing. He’s built, too. His T-shirt is a little tight and it shows off his muscled arms and chest well. His lips are painted vivid red, and gold shimmers on his cheekbones and eyes.

It might be Sokka’s new favorite color.

It would be worrying if it didn’t feel right. And this feels right.

He doesn’t pay attention to anything the moderators or the panelists are saying. All he can do is stare at this boy.

Two thoughts race through his head on repeat: variations of _Why is he so hot can boys be hot I thought girls were hot but he is too_ and _Boys can wear makeup?_

He’s not sure which one concerns him more. Or the fact that it’s not concerning at all. Because _wrong_ is concerning. And none of this feels wrong.

What the _fuck_ is going on in his brain?

Apparently, he says some of this out loud - though hopefully not in English - because Katara elbows him and says “Shut the fuck up.”

Suki snorts, so _that_ must be in English.

Holy hell, he can’t even process language anymore. 

While Katara’s jab hurt a little, it helps him to pay attention. Right as Gorgeous answers a question.

And while Sokka still isn’t processing anything, _fucking hell that voice_ . It’s low and gravelly but smooth on the vowels and _it should be illegal for anyone to have a voice like that._

He isn’t stupid enough to say that stuff out loud this time.

So he sits there, half listening in a stunned daze, so unaware that he didn’t notice when the panel had ended, despite nearly counting down the minutes an hour before.

Suki stands over him, one eyebrow raised.

“I owe you so badly, don’t I?” he murmurs to his sister.

Katara cackles.

\-----

On the ride home, Sokka gets the courage to ask them a question. “Can boys do makeup too?”

He looks at them in the mirror. Katara raises her head from her phone, slightly confused.

“Yeah, Aang does it all the time.”

“Your boyfriend puts on makeup?” He tries to get the judgement out of his voice, but it still comes out accusatory.

“What about it?”

“Nothing!” he almost raises his hands up in mock surrender before he realizes he is, in fact, driving, and he shouldn’t set such a shitty example for his younger sister and Suki. “I just thought makeup was for girls.”

“It’s become a lot more gender neutral recently,” Suki says simply. “Half the artists I watch are men.”

Sokka nods, not knowing what to say.

They’re nearly at the house when he speaks again. “I know I made fun of you two, and that was a dick move, and I’m sorry. But do you think I could join you on Saturdays?”

He keeps his eyes on the road, but he can nearly _hear_ the mental conversation Suki and Katara must be having with each other.

“You’re not gonna make fun of us?” Katara asks.

“No, I swear I’m not. It looks pretty cool, and I want to learn.”

More weird telepathy.

“I’m down as long as Katara is,” Suki says simply.

Katara huffs dramatically. “Fine. But you can’t make fun of it or us.”

Sokka mimes zipping his lips shut as they pull into the driveway.

\-----

The next Saturday, Sokka almost sneaks downstairs before he remembers he doesn’t have to. He finds Suki and Katara on the couch, huddled around the shitty laptop. With more confidence than he feels, he flops down next to Katara. The look of annoyance she shoots him doesn’t really help his nerves.

Yes, if he’s being honest, he’s a little scared.

And of course the video they have up is of Gorgeous.

He’s even cuter when he’s talking about makeup. He’s so passionate and excited, it’s adorable. Gorgeous has pulled his hair back into a little baby bun and _dear sky above, his cheekbones_. They could cut glass.

“Why are you blushing so much?” Suki teases.

Katara shoots him a look as he turns to face her. So Suki doesn’t know. Katara didn’t tell her.

Sokka feels a little bit of pride in his sister.

“Are you going to answer her?” she asks in Inuktitut.

“I thought you told her,” he replies.

She pauses the video. “I’m not saying anything until you tell me it’s okay.”

“I’m not telling you anything until I figure out what the hell is going on with me.”

“That’s fair.”

Suki says something in very pissed off Japanese. From her facial expression, Sokka can tell she’s not happy about being excluded from the conversation.

Katara covers for him. “He’s embarrassed about doing this,” she says in English.

Sokka’s definitely going to do her math homework on Monday.

It’s very clear that Suki doesn’t believe them, but she doesn’t say anything. She reaches over and plays the video.

“Alright, so today I’m going to teach you all how to do full face geisha makeup because I’m Japanese and I think the makeup style is fucking awesome.”

Sokka leans over and whispers to Katara. “Should I take notes?”

“I thought you said you weren’t going to make fun of this.”

“I think he was being legit,” Suki says. “And stop whispering, it’s kind of annoying.”

“I was being legit,” Sokka says at a normal volume.

Katara looks at him, still in disbelief. “No. You’re definitely not fucking up mine or Suki’s faces today. Just pay attention to techniques. Suki and I will make you over.”

“What."

Suki rolls her eyes. “Did you think you were getting out of this? We watch the videos, and then we practice on each other.”

“Oh.”

Sokka watches the video and makes sure not to get distracted by the way Gorgeous’s hands look when they’re unscrewing a tube of lipstick. 

He tries, at least.

Oh, he should probably call the guy something other than Gorgeous. He looks over at the sidebar and sees his name.

Zuko.

Even his name is gorgeous.

\-----

The video isn’t long because Gorgeous - Zuko - does his makeup at literal light speed, his hands a whirl of brushes and palettes and product and who knows what else. Sokka can’t even name all the stuff he used that fast.

When it finishes, Katara closes the shitty laptop and makes her way to the bathroom. Suki doesn’t follow.

“With three of us now, there just isn’t enough room in there,” she explains.

Katara comes out with a literal armful of things.

“How do you even store all that? Our bathroom is this big!” Sokka holds up his pinky finger.

Katara rolls her eyes. “When your stuff is neat, you can fit more. You wouldn’t know.”

Suki whistles. “Low blow.”

“Thank you,” Sokka says to her, and he means it.

“Ok, let’s get this started. Suki, do you want to do Sokka’s makeup? You’re better at stuff with a base paint than I am. Also, you’re more patient. I’m probably going to end up punching him if he flinches away from the mascara.”

Sokka laughs and pretends he knows what mascara is.

Suki shrugs, sits herself in front of Sokka, and goes to work.

She doesn’t talk to him at all except to give instructions.

“Close your eyes.”

“Look up with just your eyes.”

“Smile.”

“Open your mouth.”

“Rub your lips together.”

Sokka looks at her face as she does his makeup. Her brow is furrowed in concentration, despite her hands being ridiculously steady. He realizes this is something she takes seriously, but it’s not the only thing she ever talks about. Hell, she’s a varsity athlete. He’s been told that girls can be more than one type of person, but he’s never actually seen it before. His respect for her increases tenfold. 

It takes her only a little longer than Zuko in the video to finish his face. She must have superhuman skills, too.

“No, just a lot of practice. My mom let me play around with her makeup as soon as I could walk.”

So he said that out loud, too. Was this a thing that would happen all the time?

“Suki, you did a great job on him,” Katara says. 

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,” Sokka remarks, making grabby hands for a mirror.

“I would never insult Suki’s skill.”

“Just mine?”

“It comes with being your sister.”

As Katara passes him the mirror, he rolls his eyes. “Thanks.”

His jaw hits the floor.

He is unrecognizable, and not just from the white face paint.

He is softer. His cheekbones and lips and eyes are accentuated. It’s very strange.

But the way he looks isn’t completely alien, despite being very different. The weight of the products on his skin is a little uncomfortable, but oddly natural.

He wouldn’t do this all the time, but the fact that it’s an option feels pretty good.

“I like it,” he says, a little stunned.

Katara gives a disbelieving laugh. Suki smiles, proud of her work.

“Alright, watch how I do Katara’s makeup.”

And he does. And it’s infinitely more fascinating than having it done to him. He watches intently as Suki describes different techniques to make cheekbones look higher, eyes look bigger, skin look brighter.

Now, Sokka’s never been any good at drawing. But he feels like this is something he can definitely do. After all, it’s just glorified tracing with facepaint.

Plus, it’s just cool as hell. Girl stuff can be cool stuff, he realizes.

And with that, he begins to change, little by little.

\-----

He notices guys more, he finds.

He’s always noticed girls. He doesn’t think he’ll ever stop noticing them.

But he realizes he’s always noticed guys too. It’s just a little different.

Girls are “ooh” and guys are “ahh” and it makes no sense to anyone but him.

When Sokka finds the word “bisexual” out from Suki, things begin to make a lot more sense.

\-----

In the span of a year, Sokka has learned a lot:

He’s very, very bisexual. So is Suki. Their friends know, and they don’t care.

He’s been a sexist asshole in the past, and he’s only just begun making up for it. If he could go back in time and apologize to every woman he’s ever interacted with, he would. He did apologize to Katara, Suki, Gran-Gran, and Toph. He wishes he could apologize to Mom and Yue, but he can’t. Instead, he’s trying to make them proud. He knows he’s succeeding.

Therapy is very good, but also very expensive. He’s had to start working to pay for it, but it’s absolutely worth it.

Toxic masculinity has absolutely fucked him over.

He’s pretty good at makeup. Better than Katara, to the point where she asks him to do it for her on special occasions, but not better than Suki. Hell, he doesn’t think anyone could ever be better than Suki, at makeup or at soccer (even him).

The tickets for the con are cheaper if you buy them months in advance.

Katara and Suki’s faces when he presents them with said tickets are absolutely priceless.

\-----

Sokka makes sure they get to the panel that has Zuko on it. When the floor is opened to questions, he sprints to the mic.

“Hi,” he begins, then drops the index card he wrote notes on. “Fuck, sorry. I’m not good at public speaking.”

As he picks up the card, the crowd laughs. He knows it’s good natured, but his body goes hot with embarrassment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Katara and Suki cheering him on. He takes a deep breath, looks down at the cards, and begins for real this time. “My name is Sokka, and this isn’t really a question. It’s more of a thank you, for Zuko.”

At this, he looks surprised.

“A year ago, my sister and her friend dragged me to this con. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t care about makeup at all. I thought it was girl’s stuff and beneath me. A year ago, I was an asshole.”

He pauses to give the audience time to laugh. Thankfully, they do. It’s enough to keep him talking.

“But when I came to the last panel of the day, I saw something I never thought I’d see. I saw a boy with makeup on. He was one of the Rising Stars panelists.”

He looks for the recognition in Zuko’s face and finds it.

“And just seeing that made me question everything. Could boys wear makeup? Should boys wear makeup? What was preventing me from doing it? And many, many more. So in that year between then and now, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve begun to unlearn my toxic masculinity and misogyny. I figured out I’m bisexual. And I’ve gotten damn good at makeup.” Sokka gestures to his own made up face. He hears a few members of the audience agree.

“Meh, you’re ok,” Suki teases. He huffs out a laugh and ignores her.

“And I just wanted to say that none of that ever would have happened if I didn’t see the boy with makeup. So thank you for helping me become a better person.”

As the audience cheers, Sokka begins to step away from the mic.

“Wow,” Zuko says from the stage. “It really means a lot to hear that. I know what you mean about the toxic masculinity and misogyny. It took me a really long time to get comfortable with wearing makeup and doing it for a living. Thank you for telling us about yourself, and keep creating.”

Sokka nods and makes his way back to his seat. Katara hugs him, and Suki gives him a high five that makes his palm sting.

He exhales and thinks, _Holy shit I did it_.

\-----

When Sokka leaves the room with Suki and Katara, someone bumps into him. As soon as he’s about to call them an asshole, they’re gone, and something has been pressed into his hand. 

It’s a slip of paper.

With a number on it.

And a message: “I really like your eyeliner. Also, you’re cute.”

Signed: _The Boy with Makeup_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos boost my serotonin!


End file.
